Pipes which conduct hot or cold fluids are commonly insulated by a variety of different types of insulation materials. The particular materials used depend in part on the requirements of the environment of the pipes. For example, insulation used to cover pipes on ships ideally would be lightweight, in order not to contribute to the weight of the vessel, and would be durable so as to resist the compressive force of impacts which inevitably occur in crowded conditions. Further, the insulation should be easy to install, in order to keep the installation cost low, and should be resistant to fire.
One common insulation used on ships is PVC-nitrile foam which, although an effective thermal and acoustical insulation, tends to sustain combustion with the generation of large amounts of thick smoke and toxic combustion products. A replacement product should have low flame spread characteristics which reduce or prevent the migration of a fire from its initial point of combustion to other locations. Preferably, it should further have low fuel contribution to reduce smoke generation.
One type is insulation material which has demonstrated good insulating performance in low densities in other types of environments is fiber glass insulation. It is normally not resistant to compressive forces, however, particularly in the low densities used in making a lightweight insulation material. A special configuration of fiber glass insulation comprising fibers which are generally oriented perpendicular to an outer jacketing material and to the surface being insulated has been found to provide greater resistance to compressive forces, but due to its nature this product is used only in insulating large diameter pipes and tanks. The minimum diamater of such pipes and tanks is much larger than the pipes found in environments such as on shipboard. In addition, these insulation products use binders which result in undesirably high water absorption and fuel content.
It would be desirable to produce an improved pipe insulation product which overcomes the drawbacks of the types of pipe insulation described above and which is also economical and simple to manufacture.